This paper is a synthesis of available documents, surviving files and personal interviews pertaining to the history of the Federal Interagency Day Care Requirements (FIDCR). The general outlines of what took place, the principal issues and viewpoints involved and the interplay among these issues are described. Also included are: accounts of the development of the legislative mandate for the FIDCR; the actual development of the standards and mechanisms for coordination of day care programs mandated by the 1967 amendments; analysis and reformation of state licensing codes; the 1972 revisions of the FIDCR; and enactment of Title XX (pertaining to the Social Security Act, 1974). (CM)